The regional geological structure of the Naples Bay inferred by new multichannel seismic reflection profiles

The regional geological structure of the Naples Bay is controlled by two NE-SW and NNE-SSW (Anti-Apenninic) normal faults, the Dohrn canyon fault and the Capri-Sorrento fault. Strong downthrows of Meso-Cenozoic sedimentary sequences, representing the acoustic basement, are observed in correspondence to both the faults. Main regional morpho-structures are: the Banco di Fuori, a morphostructural high of the Meso-Cenozoic carbonatic acoustic basement, bounding southwards the Naples Bay, whose flanks and top are draped by the Pleistocene deposits of the Late Quaternary sequence; the Dohrn canyon, separating the eastern side, where sedimentary seismic sequences crop out, from the western side, where volcanic seismic units prevail; the Magnaghi canyon, draining the volcanic and volcanoclastic input of the Ischia and Procida islands during the Late Quaternary and eroding the sediments of the unit called Mg, characterised by chaotic reflectors; the Capri Basin, a deep basin localised in the Tyrrhenian bathyal plain south of the Naples Bay in the southern sector of the Dohrn canyon, infilled by Pleistocenic-Holocenic sediments overlying the carbonatic basement; the Salerno Valley, a half-graben filled by three seismic units corresponding to Quaternary marine and continental deposits, laterally grading to chaotic sequences related to the "Flysch del Cilento" Auct.; the Volturno Basin, infilled by four marine to deltaic seismic sequences, frequently alternating with volcanoclastic levels, overlying deep seismic units, correlated with Miocene flysch deposits (sands and shales) and Meso-Cenozoic carbonates.